If you're a fan of pistachio nuts but find prices of up to $96/kilo for the little green kernals hard to stomach, good news may be on the way.
Pistachio prices have been high for the past five years thanks to international market conditions, according to Chris Joyce from the Pistachio Growers Association.
"Pistachio prices are, in historical terms, currently very high largely because of strong demand rather than supply problems," Joyce tells SBS.
"Demand has grown exponentially around the world recently, particularly in the Chinese markets - the Chinese are now buying nuts like there's no tomorrow. This is one of the reasons that almond and walnut prices have been high also."
Australian pistachio growers have this year seen the "biggest single crop the Australian industry has ever produced" thanks to ideal growing conditions, but Australia only grows about half of what we eat, while the rest are imported from California and Iran.
Ripe pistachio nuts on the tree, ready for harvest. Source: Getty Images
And Joyce says domestic producers follow the international market prices.
"We don't really have a choice in that price - too cheap and we'll just sell everything we've got, too expensive and we won't sell anything," he says.
While almonds prices have had a major correction in the past six months, dropping by 30-40 per cent, pistachios are yet to see any drop in price.
Although we've been stunned to kernals for as much as $96/kg recently, the current regular retail price for in-shell pistachios is about $30, and $60 for kernals. However, Joyce predicts this could drop by a third by December.
"We've seen this year for the first time this century that there's been a decline in the volume demand for pistachios in the Australian market. Consumers have finally said this is over the top," he says.
"I would expect by the end of this year there's going to be a correction in international pistachio prices," he says.
"That hasn't happened yet for technical market reasons, but I would think by the end of this year you should see a retail price of about $20 as the regular price. But I've said for the last five years prices cannot keep going up, and they have."
As for the $96/a kilo that we observed in one shop recently? "That retailer has a very healthy margin," says Joyce. "I'd be pleased to supply them!"
